Sex Offender Management Program - Coursework Example

Sex Offenders al Affiliation Summary Sex offence is absolutely one of the hotly debated topics in almost every part of the world because of the sufferings victims’ undergo. Sex crime is a serious issue that has seen many governments making attempts to reduce or control it. Sexual violence is therefore a public health problem globally and legislators around the world have tried to make laws that can reduce the crime thereby making bounding many offenders by multiple policies such as community notifications. However, the policies do not still seem to provide the required solution to the sex offence because many cases are still recorded yearly. Incidence of sexual assault is alarming and millions of women are raped while others are confronted with unwanted sexual activities and millions of children maltreated and sexually abused. Sexual offence cases that get police attention represent only a small portion of offenders and a few who are imprisoned are pat of the small portion that enters the criminal justice system. Moreover, sexual offences are overwhelmingly committed by men who are known to their victims and in most cases, older than their victims. Most of the sex offenders are not mentally ill and only a small minority of sex offenders report sexual assault in childhood. Sexual assault exposes victims to both physical and mental challenges thus making the act more than just a criminal justice and therefore it is significant to focus on prevention based policy that can curb the incidence of sexual violence. Current status of law seems ineffective despite huge effort applied by legislators and other parties concerned. Prevalence of sexual crimes has prompted different institutions to come up with ways of tracking sex offenders while others force offenders to register and verify their current names and addresses. It is therefore apparent that comprehensive prevention programs meant to prohibit sexual assault is mandatory. Offenders released form confinement especially with high risk of criminality should be reintegrated into the community and development of interventions aimed at reducing the offence including efforts sponsored by justice system. Some of the intervention measures may include prison based, assistance based, integrated and through care programs amid challenges of identifying the best practices that may appear effective in helping offenders to reintegrate into the community. Objectives Sex offender management program is supposed to support effective sex policies such as developing an offend population profile and general management of sex offenders. The study focuses on investigation, prosecution, disposition, assessment and treatment as well as reentry and supervision of sexual offenders. Sexual assault requires provision of information to legal decision makers by the clinicians as discussed in this article (Agan, 2011). The article looks as the salient nature of such kind of opinions by taking into consideration the status of the judiciary and legislative action towards sexual offenders. Effectiveness of the sex offender’s law is closely looked at in this situation such as registration process with the police that is believed to reduce chances of re-offending. By taking into consideration different data and interviews as well as studying peer reviews, the study focuses on how sex offender registration and notification has had an impact on the way sex offenders are treated in the society after coming out of confinement (Chancellor, 2014). The study also focuses on assumptions considered in the way laws and restrictions regarding the constitution of sex offence. Treatment of sex offenders after serving sometimes in prison is really significant as far as reduction of the offence is concerned especially within the community perspective. There are also issues regarding prevalence, nature, cost and public perception of sexual offending. Research Strategy At a glance, classification of different sex offenders has not been an easy task among researchers and it is also worth noting that violent, antisocial offenders are most likely to perpetrate rape against women. Additionally, violent and antisocial offenders are often likely to commit sex crime especially child molesters (Yates, 2013). However, incest victims are never likely to recommit the crime and history of multiple sexual crimes against different victims is most likely to commit the crime just like people suffering from mental disorders. The research strategy is aimed at presenting information regarding laws and restrictions governing sex offenders despite generation of much debate on the issue put in place (Chancellor, 2014). The research has strongly focused on sex crimes committed in relationship that have called for increased scrutiny and stronger criminal penalties as well as increased public awareness including requiring sexual offenders to register their details. Sex crime is categorized into prostitution, child molestation, and forcible rape thus making it hard to ascertain who actually the sex offenders are and what the crime constitutes. This work aims a finding the relationship between different various sex offenders to avoid confusion (Abdel-hameid & AbdelRhman, 2009). It is apparent that the study of sex offenders is rapidly growing and highly dynamic thus making it hard for researchers to determine the best characteristic of understanding types of offenders. Various circumstances are used by researches such as the characteristics of the offenders or even multiple, competing risk assessment instruments applied by criminal justice practitioners. Regardless of different conflicting areas where researchers disagree, there are many facts about sex assault that multiple research studies support such as the reoffending characteristics (Agan, 2011). The study focuses on the recidivism where a previously convicted sex offender is confined for similar crime although it is classified into sexual recidivism and non-violent recidivism. Classification of the different types of recidivism is important because motivations for each type differ as shown by different studies (Yates, 2013). Concerning the issue of sex offender registration and notification, the supports of the law believe that treatment of offenders by the community will largely increase and that issues of reoffending will be reduced. In addition to provision of the details regarding sex offenders, the law will restrict them on where they can live such as prohibition from living near parks and schools. It is apparent that this law is instituted with an assumption that sex offenders are likely to repeat the offence and that they are very dangerous people. Chancellor (2014) explains that the law is therefore intended to deter offenders from committing another offence because they are put under surveillance of law enforcement and further exposed to the society. Interestingly, the bulk of the empirical evidence does not seem to support the assumptions thus showing no significant differences in the sexual reoffending rates. Sex offenders who have criminal history are likely to reoffend compared to first time offenders while some sex offenders such as child molesters may have deviant sexual behavior that serve as lifelong problem. This therefore implies that treatment programs for offenders vary with the rate of recidivism and the type of offender. The rate at which sex offenders reoffend is very high among the exhibitionists followed by child molesters, rapists and finally incest offenders (Yates, 2013). Most of the sexual offences are committed by acquaintances but are rarely reported and the assault ranges from unwanted touching to rape. The way in which sexual offence undergoes court system is greatly different when compared to other criminal cases because of lower rates of guilty plea and because most offenders are acquitted (Abdel-hameid & AbdelRhman, 2009). The differences experienced between sex offenders and other criminal offenders are because of the difficulty of securing conviction and reluctance of offenders to plead guilty as well as the fact that sexual offence are often subject to plea bargaining down to a lesser charge. Generally, when sexual assault is compared with other assaults, there are huge distinctions that only include the low number of reported cases but also trial outcomes. When looking at the trial outcome guilty verdicts are less than acquitted thus indicating the way in which the cases are handled in the criminal justice system. Sexual assault lowers work performance and brings low self-esteem to the victims. Sexual assault is considered as a public embarrassment and humiliation where the harassed may be blamed for her dress and lifestyle at times. It is unfortunate that the harassed normally become under scrutiny and this really interferes with their reputation and dignity. To most victims, sexual assault may prompt them to change their jobs or even feel that people around them do not care about them (Agan, 2011). There are more other challenges affecting the victims such as depression, anxiety, nightmares, anger, powerlessness, increased blood pressure, withdrawal, traumatic stress and isolation. Strong policies should be instituted both nationally and within organizations to address gender-based violence as well as conducting self-awareness campaigns to combat the challenge. Sexual assault has turned out to be a common issue due to its higher increase in different organizations begging from schools where teachers have fallen victims to bigger corporations. Sexual assault occurs when any worker associated with an institution is found liable for sexually harassing a fellow staff or worker at the institution-sponsored events. Sexual harassment further involves a situation where a senior employee causes a junior worker to believe that unless the junior worker gives in for sexual favors, the employee cannot be allowed to enjoy some school programs or activities. There are also principles laid down by the individual businesses to deal with the sexual harassment matters (Prescott & Rockoff, 2011). Increase in sexual harassment issues in the workplace as well as failure to report these issues imply that legal aspect of the vice is not deeply understood perhaps because of injustice framing. Sexual harassment is still rampant in work places despite its prohibition because of the limited and confused understanding of its legal constituent. Employees may at times not be able to ascertain what sexual harassment actually entails. They may also take some moves for granted or even assume that the harassment does not require any legal action. This may eventually lead to enhancement of sexual harassment directed towards such individuals who are never sensitive enough to take earlier actions. Some sexual behaviors are not regarded as sexual harassment by the perpetrators. Sexual harassment may at times be identified by accessing the degree in which a certain behavior was intimidating and the position of the harassed in the structural hierarchy. Lower reporting rate of sexual harassment cases also depend on degree of intimidation and the level of offence (Agan, 2011). There should be strong legal framework addressing the issue of sexual harassment by preventing the act and protecting the victims of sexual harassment in the workplace. The fact that there should be strong legal framework required to deal with sexual assault deters many victims from seeking justice particularly in some countries such as Australia. There is a big challenge of viewing sexual assault as an individual issue instead of looking at it in a broader organizational perspective. According to Abdel-hameid & AbdelRhman (2009), few incidences of sexual assault at workplace are reported simply because of organization’s climate and fear of reprisal. Most employees do not file complaints because they fear coworker’s backlash and these kinds of issues really need to be addressed in order to achieve justice amongst the victims. Also, mishandling of sexual assault cases discourage the victims from filing complaints because there is loss of trust in the institutions put in place to offer justice (Sex Offender Management, 2014). Generally, perception of how the cases are handled and the outcome of the cases play an integral role in lowering the number of sexual assault cases. Future response to sexual assault may take a wrong turn in future because of these experiences. However, the article identifies limitations of the cross sectional research technique, which does not seem to satisfactorily address the linkage between organizational framework and victim reaction. Employers may be liable for failure to enforce assault policies including failure to investigate a reported allegation on sexual harassment. An organization’s reputation may further be tainted if the sexual assaults are proved severe, pervasive, and so offensive that the victim cannot operate smoothly (Prescott & Rockoff, 2011). Businesses should therefore institute proper principles and discipline to the sexual assault offenders such as firing them. An organization should take control of the whole situation of sexual harassment to minimize the number of harassment cases. Women holding subordinate positions especially in nursing are at risk of being sexually harassed by people in the higher ranks such as physicians. Because of serious effects of sexual harassment, nurses should know their rights and even procedures to follow when sexually harassed (Abdel-hameid & AbdelRhman, 2009). Sexual harassment is prone in professions with more women than men such as nursing. Nursing profession subjects more women to sexual harassment than men. It is also apparent that less educated individuals are likely to be sexually harassed than the more educated individuals. The more educated employees holding superior positions mostly manipulate the less educated employees because of their financial status as well as the seniority of the positions they hold (Çelik and Çelik, 2007). Moreover, there is a big challenge amongst the sexually harassed individuals of reporting the incidences due to the fear of losing their jobs. Even though they may know the right channel to follow in order to seek justice, they may not make prompt decisions and this largely delays justice and encourages sexual harassment in workplaces. Solution Proper dealing with sexual harassment claim is very important in retaining good employees. It is important for the management to understand various ways of handling sexual assault claims because they are responsible for their employee acts. Being that sexual harassment is a major issue in workplace and it affects both sexes managers should act responsibly while dealing with the problem (Prescott & Rockoff, 2011). Necessary steps should be taken by management to curb sexual harassment claims in the workplace since it is a serious problem that cannot be ignored especially in the healthcare industry. By management acting responsibly, there are high chances of creating healthy working environment that is vital in generating employee satisfaction. Management and businesses in dealing with sexual harassment remains integral in ensuring smooth operation and proper working culture in every organization. It is important to let employees feel safe and cared for by the business as this boosts their morale. An organization should be free from sexual harassment. Employees’ morale will be boosted if the management is committed in eliminating sexual harassment in the working environment. Apart from proactive action which may at times not prevent the harassment, there should be other measures put in place to address the sexual harassment claims so as to protect the employees (Agan, 2011). Huebner (2008) explains that women’s traditional role to serve and care for others, according to “sex role spillover theory” has made sexual harassment a normal thing as far as women’s role is concerned. There are some establishments in the workplace that encourage sexual harassment as per workplace culture theories. There is a conventional belief amongst nurses and servers that sexual harassment is part of their work. They believe that the workplace names play a major role in encouraging sexual harassment thus making them think that harassment does not require any legal action (Prescott & Rockoff, 2011). Such kind of notion has largely encouraged sexual harassment amongst the servers and the nurses. According to Huebner (2008), sexual harassment has been normalized and the sexual behavior varies by workplace norms. There are nuances that have made sexual harassment be normalized such as malice in understanding the common and legal nature and abuse of power which includes exploitation of women’s sexuality for profit. Sexual harassment may be perceived differently at workplace and there is thin line of differentiating perpetrators operating with malicious intentions and those working in vulnerable environments. At times getting involved in sexual harassment does not mean that the offender had bad intention. Social conformity and level of intimacy may largely affect the drive to engage in sexual harassment. It is worth noting that sexual harassment is a kind of sexual discrimination, which has significant implications for both employer and workers. It is important to understand that sexual discrimination is based on traditional perception of women’s role in the society that has also influenced the way in which organizational structures are designed. Traditional organizational structures attempt to favor male dominance and leadership without paying much attention to gender balance (Prescott & Rockoff, 2011). Considering sort culture, it is evident that most roles are occupied by men and this really contributes to increase in sexual harassment incidences. Perhaps involvement of women in organizational structures and paying attention to gender may bring balance in the organizations and eventually reduce incidences of sexual harassment (Sex Offender Management, 2014). There are widespread occurrences of sexual harassment in sport print media workplaces which has negatively influenced female sport media personnel. This is an example of organizations that experiences sexual assault because of the public perception of the female gender. Everyone, especially women and children should protect from sexual exploitation and all sex offenders should be treated equally instead of placing them in levels based on offence. This will help in making the community and workplaces safe hence resulting into an education of criminal charges because of severe and strict rules for offenders. References Abdel-hameid, S., & AbdelRhman, W. (2009). Sexual Harassment in the Workplace. Ahfad Journal, 26(1), 3-24. Retrieved from http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=89c2e7f4-f992-4c31-a6a4-7f4f0018bae1%40sessionmgr115&vid=2&hid=117 Agan, Amanda. (2011). Sex Offender Registries: Fear without Function? Journal of Law and Economics, 54 (1): 207 DOI: 10.1086/658483 Çelik, Y., & Çelik, S. (2007). Sexual Harassment against Nurses in Turkey. Journal of Nursing Scholarship, 39(2), 200-206. doi:10.1111/j.1547-5069.2007.00168.x Chancellor, A. S. (2014). Investigating sexual assault cases. Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning. Charlesworth, S., McDonald, P., & Cerise, S. (2011). Naming and claiming workplace sexual harassment in Australia. Australian Journal of Social Issues, 46(2), 141-161. Retrieved from http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=64da7b0a-3d86-4387-84f2-7a33dd967c13%40sessionmgr15&vid=2&hid=117 Huebner, L. C. (2008). It Is Part Of The Job: Waitresses And Nurses Define Sexual Harassment. Sociological Viewpoints, 2475-90. Retrieved from http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=a87d2d63-39bf-4668-8ce1-45e5e596b31d%40sessionmgr115&vid=2&hid=117 Prescott and Rockoff, Jonah. (2011). Do Sex Offender Registration and Notification Laws Affect Criminal Behavior? Journal of Law and Economics, 54 (1), 161 DOI: 10.1086/658485 Sex Offender Management. (2014). Retrieved from http://www.mass.gov/eopss/law-enforce-and-cj/crime-stats-rsrch/rsrch-policy-anal/rsrch-projects/sex-offender-management.html Yates, Pamela. (2013). Treatment of Sexual Offenders: Research, Best Practices, and Emerging Models. International Journal of Behavioral Consultation and Therapy, 8 (3-4), 89-95. Retrieved from http://www.baojournal.com/IJBCT/IJBCT-8_3-4/A16.pdf Read More